Brad Court

Are You Too “Out-Of-Shape” To Start Training BJJ?

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It’s not uncommon for prospective or new members to express concern about being too out-of-shape for Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Occasionally they will even say they aren’t ready to join Paramount BJJ yet, and would like to go to the gym and get in shape before joining.

It may seem like holding off on starting BJJ until you get in better shape is a good idea. On the contrary, it’s among the worst reasons. If you’re in a BJJ school, about to enroll, then you’re about to take the first step towards getting in shape- don’t pass that by to find a less exciting way to get in shape first!

Think about it… If you’re not already going to the gym it’s because you really don’t want to. And if you’re sitting down with someone at a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school it’s because you DO want to train BJJ! What are the odds that all of a sudden you’re going to be motivated to go to the gym? Unfortunately, most people are more likely to continue to put off both exercise at the gym and classes at a BJJ school.

One of the biggest advantages to training BJJ is that you can get into phenomenal shape while learning and developing realistic self-defense skills. You will become immersed in the problem-solving that occurs in BJJ - it is often referred to as “physical chess” – and often won’t even think about the fact that you’re exercising. At the gym, you’ll be bored out of your mind running on a treadmill day after day, or doing the leg press and bench press for the 1,000th time.

Even if you do enjoy working out at the gym, wouldn’t it be nice to mix up your workouts with something that provides a whole bunch of other benefits too? Benefits like self-defense skills, patience, focus, and more.

Training Jiu-Jitsu is a full-body workout. You’ll get a lower body workout when using your legs to drive forward and take your opponent down. You’ll get an upper body workout when you push or pull to create space or close the distance, grabbing hold of your training partner to apply a submission hold. You’ll get an incredible core workout using your abdominal muscles to stabilize your body just about the entire grappling session.

Perhaps most beneficial is the cardiovascular workout. The stamina that you’ll develop will be noticeable within a couple of months – at most. And although training three days a week is optimal, most students start out with two days and see every one of the benefits I’ve listed.

One benefit that many people get from exercise is peace of mind and clarity. This is typically attributed to the release of endorphins- chemicals in the brain that are released during strenuous exercise. You’ve probably heard the term “runner’s high,” and we could just as easily call the post-training feeling a “BJJ high.” The difference is that to achieve a runner’s high you’ve got to log some serious mileage, and that brings us back to the boredom of the standard workout.

I should be clear, there’s nothing wrong with the standard weight-lifting or cardio workouts. In fact, I recommend them as part of a balanced exercise routine. But there’s no denying that they can become monotonous, and the same cannot be said about BJJ at a good school. If you train at a top-tier BJJ academy you will enjoy just about every class.

But what if you have physical limitations? What if you have a pre-existing injury that makes it difficult for you to do certain movements? Not a problem! With a few exceptions, previous injuries or limitations are not an issue with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. There are two reasons why this is true. First, BJJ was created- more accurately modified from traditional Jujitsu- to allow someone of inferior physical abilities to defeat a person who is bigger and stronger than them. In fact the man who is regarded as the main innovator of BJJ, Helio Gracie, was known as a thin and fairly weak man. Yet he faced and defeated many opponents in bare knuckle fights and grappling matches.

One more thing to consider is that with thousands of people training Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the U.S. and millions worldwide, there are surely people who are training while dealing with the exact same limitations that you are. And if they can do it, so can you.

Is Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Really Life-Changing?

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There’s a motivational quote that goes something like this: “If you hang out with 4 broke people, you’re bound to be the fifth.” It’s a testament to the importance of surrounding yourself with positive, motivated, successful people; because even doing that alone will increase your odds of success. You may have heard the saying, “attitudes are contagious.” It’s true.

Most people seek out a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) school to learn realistic self-defense and/or get in shape. Others have heard about how fun it is from a friend or family member. But, if they find the right BJJ academy- one that has a community of people who truly want their teammates to succeed, one like Paramount BJJ- what they don’t realize until later is that they’ve automatically increased their chances of improving all aspects of their life.

The majority of BJJ students are goal-oriented people, the type of people who set an objective and work steadily towards achieving it. 

And if they’re at a high-quality Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu school they’ll have the step-by-step guidance of a head instructor, along with assistant instructors, and a system of learning the techniques and concepts in a simple fashion. Add to that a culture of cooperation and mutual progress and you’ve got a formula for success.

All of this makes it much easier for you to reach those initial goals, and to discover that you’re actually capable of doing much more than you thought. Many of our students have had to set and reset goals because they continued to reach them one after another. This compounds the increase in confidence and shows the person they can push the boundaries of their limitations.

But it goes beyond the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu academy. The boost in confidence that BJJ students get shows them that they can tackle challenges in the “real world” as well. We hear it time and time again, students commenting on the sense of clarity and peace of mind that they feel after a class. They feel energized and ready to take on anything.

Students often talk about the improvements they’ve seen in their relationships, with their significant other and/or with their children. They are happier, they feel better about themselves, and thus more giving and more fun to be around. Many times their spouse and/or children end up joining too, and also experience all of the benefits that come from BJJ training.

Aside from reaching goals they never thought possible, many students at Paramount have made lifelong friends. Many of the families that train together also spend vacations and holidays together. In fact, some students have met at Paramount and are now happily married!

It’s common to hear people say, “Jiu-Jitsu will change your life,” and a statement like that often gets chalked up to hyperbole. It’s easy to wonder how much it could actually change your life. But the examples above serve as proof. Think about it, most of our lifelong friends are people we met when we were kids, or in school. It’s a rare and special thing to meet someone new in your 30’s and then become great friends. But it happens frequently at Paramount.

So can BJJ change your life? Obviously! It will increase confidence, increase your physical conditioning and your discipline, help with stress relief, and introduce you to friendly, goal-oriented, motivated people. On top of all that, it will do what you originally set out to accomplish: It will show you how to use leverage and technique to overcome size and strength.

I want to make note of one thing when it comes to confidence: just about every martial arts discipline promote confidence. But some of them are based solely on their "theory of what is effective" and cannot be practiced at full speed with your training partner. These styles typically have either one person mimicking an attacker and not offering any realistic resistance, or a ton of restrictions for sparring.

So you end up with confidence, but it's a false sense of confidence. If you were thrown into a real situation, whether being attacked or an actual fist fight, you may remember what to do but would you be able to pull it off in your very first experience against full force? You won't know unless it happens- it's a gamble.

With Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu you and your training partners can go full speed, using 100% resistance, because BJJ is all about controlling and restraining your attacker or opponent. That's why BJJ is the number one martial art taught by the US military and Law Enforcement. That alone should be enough to convince you to train.

Whatever your reason to start training is, you're sure to gain many more benefits than you expected to, and when you look back at the decision to start BJJ you'll be glad you did it.